1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to receiving of an incoming call at a Computer/Telephony Integrated System and more particularly to determining whether the incoming call is a data or facsimile transmission or a voice call.
2. Description of Related Art
Computer/Telephony integration is a technology that integrates computers with the telephone network. With computer/telephony integration, a computer can take advantage of a wide range of sophisticated data communications features and services over the telephone line, such as sending or receiving a facsimile, surfing the Internet, or engaging in a chat session.
Data and facsimile transmissions are usually handled by the computer. The data and facsimile transmissions include digital data signals which are modulated for transmission over the telephone network. After the modulated signals are received at the Computer/Telephony Integrated System, the modulated analog signals are demodulated into the original digital data signals. The demodulated data signals are received by the computer and used by a software application running on the computer system. The modulation of the data signal for transmission and the demodulation of the modulated signal back to the digital data signal are performed by a device known in the art as a modulator/demodulator (modem) which acts as an interface between the telephone line and the computer.
The same telephone line can be used to engage in ordinary voice calls, as well as data or facsimile transmissions. The telephone line is received by a base station which interfaces with both the modem and a voice call handset. The voice call handset can be used to engage in a voice call.
Although the Computer/Telephony Integrated System can handle data and facsimile transmissions as well as voice calls when the base station receives an incoming call the Computer/Telephony Integrated System is unable to distinguish between a data or fax transmission and a voice call. As a result the Computer/Telephony Integrated System by default assumes that the incoming call is a data or fax transmission or assumes that the incoming call is a voice call. If the Computer/Telephony Integrated System assumes that all incoming calls are data or facsimile transmissions, every incoming call will be forwarded to and answered by the modem. This is disadvantageous where the incoming call is a voice call because the modem is unable to recognize voice signals and will subsequently disconnect the call. On the other hand, if the Computer/Telephony Integrated System assumes that all incoming calls are voice calls, each call including data and facsimile transmissions will await an answer by the user. This is disadvantageous because where an incoming data or facsimile transmission is answered by a user, the user will receive an indecipherable stream of modulated signals. Unless the user arranges to have the data or facsimile transmission retransmitted the incoming data or facsimile transmission is lost.
Accordingly it would be advantageous if the Computer/Telephony Integrated System could distinguish between an incoming data or facsimile transmission from a voice call.